Sermon 3rd November 2014

From now until Advent, adults will ask, and discover answers to, questions on the fundamentals of the Christian faith.

Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker continues our Alpha study.

Why, and how, do I read the Bible?

The reading is from 2 Timothy 3: verses 10-17

So, “Why, and how, do I read the Bible, then?” The answer to today’s specific question, as adults return to the topics of the Alpha course, begins with a story. It’s the one about the archaeologist on a dig in the Negev Desert in Israel. One day she very excitingly uncovered a casket containing a mummy. After examining it she contacted the national museum. “I’ve just discovered a 3 000 year-old body of a man who died of a heart attack!” Not surprisingly, the museum’s response was that they wanted to conduct their own tests on this amazing find.

In due course, the museum got back to the archaeologist and told her. “You were exactly right, about the mummy’s age and cause of death. How on earth did you know?”

“Easy”, she replied. “There was a note in his hand saying ‘10,000 Shekels on Goliath to beat David.’”

Now of course that’s got nothing to do with why, or how, to read Bible, really – other than so as not to miss out on the meaning of good jokes, perhaps. But it does hopefully set the scene for the much longer story that I want to tell today. So get as comfortable as the furniture allows; and I’ll begin ... Actually I’m going to tell you about a story. And in order to do that, I’ll need you to have a rough map of our world in your head. If you can zoom out, and picture the continents, you’ll remember why they are continents: because they make sense. Each one is a distinct area of land: Africa; North America; South America. Except there’s one continent that doesn’t really make sense; at least it doesn’t occupy one distinct piece of land. The continent I mean is where we live. Why do we call Europe a continent, when on a map it’s really just one end of Asia?

Well, there is one thing that has marked off Europe from the rest of Asia for many centuries. What has happened is that Europe, unlike the rest of Asia, has been shaped by a story. It’s a story that has been told, and believed, across Europe for well over thousand years. It’s a story that gave the answers to the most fundamental questions of life: where are we from; where are we going; what’s wrong with the world; and what’s the solution?

Or to put it another way, it’s the story about a loving God who made a beautiful world, and who made people to live in it. It’s the story of how those people rebelled against the God of love; and how this God put into a practice a plan to end the rebellion and to bring whole world back to Himself. It’s the story of how He did just that: how He first chose a people to be His and to be, as it were, His bridgehead in this rebellious world. It’s the story of how from that people He brought a Saviour. It’s the story of how through his death and resurrection Jesus brought into being a new people; a people to know and to love God; a world-wide people to serve Him and share the good news of His love with others. And it’s the story of how one day the whole world will be reconciled to Him, as every living creature bows again before God, lost in wonder, love and praise.

That’s the story that has been told, and believed, in Europe. It’s the story which has done so much to affect our laws and culture, our society and government, and the very way that we think. And that very brief summary is the story of the Bible.

Of course within this big story that the Bible tells (the meta-narrative, as it’s known), we find all sorts of little stories. They are stories about very ordinary people – not heroes, but people like us – who got involved with God, and whose lives were turned upside down as a result. And we find things other than stories in the Bible too. We find books of law, poems, practical down to earth advice, prophecy, and letters too. If you missed it, see our website for a whole series on the types of Bible literature that we did in 2012. For now just know that each type has its place within the overarching story.

Now you might say, as increasing numbers of people in Europe do: ‘That’s all very well, but so what? Why should I believe this story rather than any of the many other stories told about our world? Why not believe, for example, the story that says it’s all just an accident, and there’s no plan or purpose in life or history? Why believe the story that’s told in the Bible?’

Well the simple answer is that this story doesn’t claim to be one story among many. It claims to be the story, the story above all others. And for a very simple reason: it is God’s story. In our reading from it we heard that the Bible is ‘God-breathed’. That’s the literal meaning of the word other versions translate ‘inspired’. What Paul was saying to Timothy is that all Scripture is God-breathed. In other words, the words of the Bible are the words of God. Of course human authors wrote it, over hundreds of years; but behind their minds was the mind of God Himself. That means we can’t look at this story as simply one among others. We have to look at it as the story, above all others – because it’s the only story that God Himself has told.

Now that thought leads to 3 conclusions about this story. If this story is the story, if it is God’s story, then we can say first of all that we can have confidence in it. We live in a world strangely lacking in confidence. 100 years ago, in the period before WW1, people were full of confidence. People believed in big things then, like Science; Progress (with a capital S and a capital P). Many people believed in the story of Progress in which Science would solve all our problems (and we could get rid of God entirely). But who believes in Science and Progress in that way now, after all that happened in the past century? On the other hand, the Bible says that God is the same: yesterday; today; and forever. We can have confidence in Him, and in the accurate answer to life’s critical questions that are told in His story.

And if this story is the story, God’s story then we can say, secondly, that this story can touch our lives in a way no other story can. It’s what we might call the Heineken effect: this story touches parts that other stories can’t reach. It can affect us very personally. Hear again what Paul told Tim the Bible can do, from The Message version: “every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another – showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.”

The Bible can shape us in a way that no other book, no other story, can. It’s not just that we read the book; rather this book reads us. It’s like a mirror we hold up to ourselves. But it doesn’t just show us what we’re like; it shows us what we should, and can, be like. And that’s not very comfortable. Having our lives touched by this story is not a comfortable option: having rebellion exposed, and mistakes corrected, rarely is – but that is what the Bible can, and does, do.

And if this story is the story, God’s story then we can also say that we can become part of this story. That’s because God’s story is all about God getting involved with very ordinary people; not heroes but people like us. The Bible is full of them: Moses; David; Ruth; Mary; Luke, to name a few. These were people whose lives were turned upside down – because their story got intertwined with God’s. 

What was true for them was true for the writer of this letter; and for the person who received it. Paul and Timothy were people whose lives were taken by God and turned upside down by Him. For Paul it meant complete reversal. The man who’d persecuted the early Church was stopped short on the Damascus Road. He spent the rest of his life playing his part in the great drama of God’s unfolding story. And it wasn’t an easy role to play: he wrote here, “You’ve seen my troubles and sufferings, and all the grief I had to put up with”. And Timothy had his own part to play. He didn’t enter into the story dramatically like Paul did; he grew into it from childhood: “Why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother’s milk”.

And as it was for them, so it can be for us. The Bible’s not a closed book. We don’t have to stay on the sidelines of this story. We can become part of God’s story. We can become part of the story the Bible tells. How? By letting the Bible become part of us; letting it show us the truth; expose our rebellion; correct our mistakes; and train us to live God’s way; by letting it show us the way of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. If we want to get involved in God’s story, then we must let God’s story get involved in us. There is no alternative; but it’s not least why God has given us the Bible, so that it can do those things. As DL Moody once said, “The Bible isn’t given to increase our knowledge; it’s given to change lives”! And that means yours; and mine.

I’ve focused on why we should read the Bible, because obviously that’s the crux of it. It’s only once we’ve made an in-principle decision to read it (and let it read us) that we need to get to the how. So to repeat, the main reason to read the Bible is because it is God’s story. We can have confidence in it; and we can be sure it’ll change our lives – if we let it. The Bible will do that both positively and negatively – teach, and correct us – if we join the millions of others who have become part of God’s story through the centuries.

We live in an age where the resources that are available to us are instant, and limitless. A touch on a screen can access the Bible in 50+ translations and languages. What matters is that we use them – be they on paper, phones, tablets or computers. If you want to be part of this story, set aside time each day to read it – and programme yourself a reminder to do it! Start short, like 5 minutes, even, and increase it. Try a Bible-reading plan, whether you find it in a bookshop or on-line; or pick one book, maybe a Gospel. Ask God to speak to you through whatever it is that you are reading; and don’t be surprised if He does – both about what you may be expecting; and/or something that you’re not! Use other resources too, like a commentary (Tom Wright’s “For Everyone” series is particularly good), or a study guide; get Bible reading notes; join a small group to study the Bible with other people. In essence, do whatever you need in order to help you answer 2 key basic questions about each Bible passage. We always need to ask first, “What is this saying?”; and then, “What does it mean?” The third step is to ask God how it applies to you: at home, work, or however.

In one way this isn’t difficult, at all; in another it can be the most challenging part of any day, or life! When God teaches us what we need to learn, and corrects our faults, it really can turn everything upside down – but that will be in good ways! For centuries the Bible has been the main way that God has done that, spoken to ordinary people like us; and it still is so today. The challenge, to each of us, is to choose to put ourselves in the way of that day by day; to be part of God’s on-going story, by reading – and being read by – the Bible as His living Word. And so let’s pray for His help to choose to do just that, then, each day …